


The Harvey Street Kids Movie

by sarahgirl1998



Category: Harvey Street Kids (Cartoon)
Genre: Adventure, Camping, Comedy, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Scary Stories, Sneezing, Wolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:47:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22465915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahgirl1998/pseuds/sarahgirl1998
Summary: Audrey, Dot and Lotta are really looking forward to their first camping trip of the summer. But when Audrey tells Dot and Lotta a scary story about an evil wolf that preys on all living creatures, things start to take a creepy turn...Will the Girls be able to defend themselves against the feared predator?
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	1. Setting Out

Slowly, ever so slowly, the sun began to rise from the horizon. The stars in the sky gradually disappeared, and the color of the sky itself changed from a dark blue to a much lighter shade. Before long, you could hear the birds chirping wherever you went, and the sun began to shine over every house in the neighborhood.

It was a beautiful, cool and clear Friday morning in Harvey Street, the name of this neighborhood. In one of the bedrooms of one of these houses, a young girl with brown hair lay asleep in her bed, one hand over the other. The quilt that separated her pajama-wearing body and her hands was covered yellow stars on a pink background. In between her quiet snores, she was anticipating something. Something special.

One inhale. "Come on..." Then an exhale. "Come on..." Another inhale. "Any minute now..." The exhale afterward revealed her name. “Wait for it, Audrey...!"

At long last, the alarm clock next to her reached the hour of seven and gave off a repetitive beeping noise. Instantly, the girl called Audrey's eyes opened and she sat up in delight.

"Woohoo!" The first word out of her mouth was uttered more or less the same as if Homer Simpson had said it.

She switched off her alarm clock by pressing the palm of her hand against the snooze button, then jumped out of bed and went over to her dresser. She pulled one of the drawer doors open, then another - and before long, she was out of her pink pajamas and into her favorite outfit: a pink jacket with a small lightning bolt and white pants. From a third drawer, she pulled out a clean pair of white socks and slipped them onto her feet. She then saw her favorite blue shoes sitting in front of her bed, and moved them closer to her before she slipped one shoe over one foot, then the other shoe over the other foot.

Now that she was dressed, Audrey opened her bedroom door with a quick movement of her arm, then pranced into the bathroom. She picked up a pink toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste, before she squirted a bit onto her toothbrush and started brushing her teeth. There was a visible gap in her front teeth, but that didn't complicate her morning routine in any way.

Her upper row of her teeth was cleaned first, then the lower row. Finally she spat out the mixture of toothpaste and saliva, then wiped her mouth with her hand. She rinsed off her toothbrush just by holding it over the running water, then placed it aside for the next time she would use it. Seeing a nearby cup on the sink as well, Audrey took it and rinsed it out with water as well, before she took a particularly large sip to get rid of the remaining toothpaste that was in her mouth. A moment of swishing and a second spit later, the minty flavor had been eliminated.

Audrey wiped her mouth again, put down the cup and then picked up her favorite hairbrush. She ran it through her hair a few times to get rid of the tangles that had accumulated from the night before. It was a bit painful, but not too bad, and in less than a minute she had finished. She put down her hairbrush, looked in the mirror over the sink and smiled happily.

She was ready for the day.

"Audrey! Audrey, honey!" A female voice called as Audrey left the bathroom. "Your breakfast is ready!"

"Okay, gimme a minute!" Audrey replied.

She picked up her skateboard that had been in the hall, then got onto it and leaped onto the banister of the stairs. Without so much as falling, she skated down the banisters until she made it to the first floor, then leaped off and landed perfectly on the floor.

"Yeah!" Audrey cheered herself over her successful stunt. Almost as soon as she'd gotten off her board, a brown-haired man in a white suit, blue pants and red dress shoes walked up to her.

"How's my little daredevil this morning?" the man asked. He rubbed the top of Audrey's head affectionately as he asked that. "You might want to go easy on those tricks, honey. Wouldn't want to hurt yourself."

"I know, Dad, but it's so much fun," Audrey said. "And besides, I've been waiting for this day for months and months!"

"Oh, I can see that," her father replied. "But why don't you have something to eat? And then we can talk about what you’re going to do today."

"Sure!"

Audrey followed her dad into the kitchen. As soon as they'd gotten there, the first thing Audrey saw was a brown-haired woman in a purple dress standing in front of the stove, as well as another brown-haired girl - older than Audrey, but not quite eighteen yet - sitting at the table. In one of this girl's hands was a piece of buttered toast, the other a cell phone that she was using to text someone. One of her friends, probably.

"I hope you haven't been sliding down the stairs again," the woman at the stove said to Audrey. "Or skateboarding down the stairs, for that matter."

"Could I help it if I get in the mood to do things like that when I've been awaiting one of the biggest days out of the year?" Audrey replied with a chuckle as she sat down at the table. The woman in the purple dress giggled a bit as well. She walked over to her and placed a bowl of cereal and milk in front of her, as well as a plate that held two pieces of toast held together by creamy peanut butter.

"Eat up, sweetie; if you're going to start your summer vacation with a big adventure, you'll need your energy," the woman told Audrey, who picked up her spoon and took a spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

Audrey nodded, then swallowed. "You bet I'm gonna go on a big adventure, Mom! Me and Dot and Lotta are going to go camping in the woods together, to celebrate the first and longest Friday of the summer!”

"What?!" the other girl at the table asked in dismay, almost dropping her phone in shock. "Man, you are so LUCKY! How come you get to go camping with your dumb friends, and I have to stay home and help Mom and Father with who knows what?"

"Zoe, please," Dad stopped her as he sat down at the table. "Your little sister's been waiting for this day for ages. Let her express herself."

He picked up the newspaper, opened it up and began to read it. Nobody commented on the fact that the front page headline read, "Proof of Aliens Linked to Sci-Fi Classics? Conspiracy Theorists Wonder."

The last day of school had been the day before, and now that Audrey had finished all of her assignments and tests, the only thing that was on her mind was having the best campout ever with her best friends, Dot and Lotta. They called themselves the Harvey Girls, by the way; whatever activity they wanted to do, they almost always did it together. As she’d stated, they were going to join Audrey on their camping adventure today, and couldn’t have been more excited. As she, her sister and their parents ate, Audrey continued to talk about her trip when she wasn't munching on her cereal or chewing her toast.

"We're gonna go on hikes, pick berries, and maybe go for a swim if it’s hot enough," Audrey mentioned. "And when nighttime comes, we're gonna roast marshmallows, gaze at the stars and tell scary stories! I'm even gonna bring my awesome new book about the scariest campfire stories the world has ever told."

"I just hope none of those scary stories are real," Mom stated.

"Yeah, it'd be a real shame if so much as one of those happened to you and your friends..." Zoe replied. Mom glared at her in disapproval in response, forcing her to shut her mouth.

In a few minutes, Audrey was done with her breakfast. She picked up her bowl and plate, got up and placed them in the sink for her mom to wash.

"I'm gonna go see if I've got everything I need," Audrey told her parents.

She climbed back up the stairs and went back into her bedroom. She picked up her favorite backpack and looked through it. Audrey had packed all sorts of things inside: her favorite snacks, clean clothes, some toys that she could play with her friends, and as she'd told her parents, the big book that was called, "The Scariest Campfire Stories Ever Told: Not Recommended for the Faint of Heart." Also in the backpack was a soft, plushy pink sleeping bag, the cover of which was adorned with many red hearts. Audrey smiled and zipped her backpack back up before she placed it over her shoulders. She also unplugged her cell phone, fully charged and ready to use, from its charging cable and placed it in her pants pocket. It was only then that she went back out of the room.

When Audrey had made it down the stairs again, she started toward the door, only for Zoe to go over to her and stop her in her tracks.

"No way, Audrey!" said Zoe. "You are NOT going out in the woods, not with your dumb friends! Do you even know how crazy it gets out there?!"

"I've been to the forest once before, Zoe," Audrey snapped. "It's not that bad! You're just worried because you won't have someone to pick on… or is it because you won’t see either of your friends all summer?”

It was obvious that Zoe had taken the latter comment far worse than the former, because she started to get rough - or at least, she tried to.

"Why, you..." She grabbed onto Audrey's hands and held them in her own, and the two of them tried to push each other away. After about ten seconds, however, Zoe felt someone's hand pull her away from Audrey. It was Mom.

"Zoe! You leave your sister alone right now, or I'll take away your cell phone privileges until September!" Mom warned Zoe. Then she went over to Audrey and knelt down with a smile on her face. She’d calmed down almost immediately after her threat to Zoe.

"Bye-bye, sweetie. You be safe while you're out camping with your friends."

She gave Audrey a quick but warm kiss on the cheek. Not long after, Dad came into the room and gently tugged on Audrey's other cheek. It was his own way of wishing her goodbye.

"Have fun, princess," said Dad. "Don't get into any danger."

"Don't worry, Dad. That's not gonna be a problem," Audrey replied. After Dad had let go of her cheek, she turned to the door, placed her hand on the knob, turned it and pushed it open. "Bye, Mom and Dad!"

She then headed out the door, with her mom and dad waving happily to her. Zoe, however, stood where she was, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

In another house not far from Audrey’s, while all of this had happened, a dark-skinned girl with even darker hair had just finished her breakfast. Wearing a cute blue vest with light blue dots under a white shirt, as well as a medium-blue pair of jeans and shoes as blue as her vest, she’d had two pieces of buttered toast with some apple slices - nothing too much, nothing too little, nor too sweet or too plain. Just enough to fill her stomach without being too unhealthy. As much as she liked sweets and other snacks, she liked to watch what she ate for her meals.

Giving a quiet, contented sigh, she wiped her mouth gently with a napkin and folded it up. Then she picked up the plate and brought it over to the sink, and picked up a sponge to rub the remaining crumbs off. A dark-skinned, dark-haired man with dark blue and grey clothing - specifically, a dark blue shirt, grey pants and blue shoes - stood next to her, cleaning off the dishes upon which he’d eaten his breakfast as well.

“I have a feeling that today’s going to be a wonderful day, Dad,” the girl said.

Her father smiled at her. “I’m glad you’re excited, Dot. But I should let you know, the forest is a very dangerous place - especially for three little girls like you and your friends.”

“I understand,” said the girl called Dot. “But you can rest assured that the survival skills of myself, Audrey and Lotta are more than enough to keep us out of trouble.”

Dad chuckled over her comment a bit. “Well, if you say so. But you should check your backpack and make sure you have everything you need.”

“I’ve already checked, and I do,” Dot replied. “I’ve got a sleeping bag, materials to start a fire as well as instructions to do it safely, a portable tent, and plenty of food and cooking supplies. So what is the worst that could happen at our campout?”

“Oh, you know,” Dad said, “you could encounter bears, wolves, wolverines, hawks… You never know just what kind of scary animals you’ll find in the forest, darling.”

“True, but I think we can handle it.”

Dot finally finished cleaning her plate, then opened one of the cupboards to put it away. As she did this, her dad finished cleaning off his dishes as well, but then placed them on the counter for a moment to dry off his hands with a small dish towel. Finally he placed the towel on the handle of the oven, then bent down to kiss his daughter on the cheek.

“Thank you for helping me do the dishes, Dot,” said Dad. “You have a good time on your camping trip. And don’t forget to say goodbye to your mother before you leave.”

“I won’t, Dad.”

Dot went over to the doorway of the kitchen, where she’d placed her backpack that she’d brought from her bedroom upstairs. The backpack contained not only everything she’d mentioned to her father, but her cell phone for emergencies as well. She picked the backpack up and placed the straps over her shoulders, then went over to another room. In this room, a dark-skinned and dark-haired woman who wore a pink shirt and blue pants was sitting at the desk, doing some sort of work on the computer.

“Mom?” Upon hearing her daughter’s familiar voice, the woman turned to look at Dot. “I just wanted to let you know, I’m about to leave and go camping with my friends.”

Mom smiled, stood up and walked over to Dot. She bent down and gave her a hug to wish her goodbye.

“You be careful out there, sweetheart. Remember, your safety is every bit as important as how much fun you have.” She planted a warm kiss upon Dot’s forehead.

“It certainly is, Mom,” Dot replied. “Goodbye.”

She walked away from the room and went back to the front door. She placed her hand on the doorknob, turned it and pushed the door open. Then she took one step outside, closed the door behind her, climbed down the steps and began to walk away from her house.

And while Audrey and Dot were busy getting ready for their adventure, another girl who knew them was getting ready for her day as well. This blonde-haired girl - who was much taller and a great deal stronger than the average child, but no older - was wearing her favorite outfit: a sky blue top, an orange-colored skirt, multicolored socks and black shoes. She was busy packing her favorite snacks into her backpack that she’d brought into the kitchen.

"Let's see... fruit snacks, marshmallows, cookies," the girl said to herself as she rummaged through her bagged treats, making sure she had everything she wanted. "I think that's pretty much everything. Although..."

The girl smiled as she got an idea, and then went over to the refrigerator. She placed her hand on the handle and pulled it open, then took a couple of cold water bottles out of the fridge. She placed them in her backpack where she could find them, without the risk of the sunlight making them too hot.

"There we go." The girl pushed the fridge closed with a satisfied smile. Not long afterward, a blonde-haired woman came into the kitchen. She looked a bit similar to the girl, and was about as tall as her, but not only did the woman's hair extend down to her shoulders, she wore a long green dress and white slip-on shoes. Seeing that the girl was preparing for her trip so early in the morning, the woman giggled to herself.

"Sounds like my little Lotta's almost ready for her camping trip, hm?" she commented.

The girl called Lotta heard her and nodded. "My friends couldn't have chosen a better-er way to start the summer," she replied. "I can only imagine what we'll do in the forest when we get there!"

"I'm glad you're excited, honey," said the woman. "But do you have your sleeping bag with you, too?"

"Yeah, see?" Lotta reached into her backpack and pulled out a rolled-up sleeping bag. The outside of it that looked like a blanket had several small images of white rabbits on a blue background over it. "I picked it out myself." She placed it back in her backpack.

"Remember to be careful when you're out in the woods, sweetie," the woman replied. "We all know how dangerous it can get out there..."

"Oh, don't worry, Mom," said Lotta. "I'm sure me and Audrey and Dot will be just fine."

"And if anything bad happens, do you have your cell phone with you?"

"Yes, and I'll use it when something bad does happen. I promise."

Her mother smiled, reached over and gave Lotta a warm kiss on the cheek. Lotta smiled as well as she zipped up her backpack and placed the straps over her shoulders.

"You have a good time, Lotta," Mom finished. "And don't worry about your bunnies; I'll take care of them for you."

"Thank you, Mom." Lotta then made her way out of the kitchen. "Bye!"

She walked over to the front door, placed her hand on the doorknob, turned it and pushed the door open. She forgot to close the door behind her as she went outside, but it was alright; her mother stood in the doorway, smiling and waving to her daughter, before returning inside and closing the door herself.

At long last, the three girls - Audrey, Dot and Lotta - were out of their respective houses. They called themselves the Harvey Girls, as they did almost everything together. As Audrey made it to the stop sign just outside Harvey Street, she turned around to look behind her. To her delight, Dot and Lotta were approaching the very same stop sign.

"Dot! Lotta! You've made it!" Audrey cheered.

"Hi, Audrey!" Dot and Lotta replied in near unison. Both of them were happy to see her as well, and they walked up to her.

"I can't believe school's already out for three whole months!" Audrey stated.

"I know, time can really fly fast," Dot replied. "But the day after the last day of school is a perfect time to celebrate with our first campout of the summer!"

"We're gonna have so much fun in the woods together!" Lotta added. "Why don't you lead the way, Audrey?"

"Then, it's settled!" Audrey turned toward the way to the forest ahead, and then started walking towards it. "Let's go!"

With that, Dot and Lotta began to follow her. As they went, a little girl with brown hair and a dress saw them depart. She’d been playing with a ball along with a little boy with dark skin, but she paused to smile and wave goodbye to the girls. The little boy waved to them as well.

“Bye, Harvey Girls, have fun!” said the boy.

“Take lots of pictures for us!” the girl added.

The Harvey Girls heard them, but didn’t respond. They were going to fulfill their request, however, since they wanted to take some pictures on their trip as well.

It was a beautiful day for exploring the woods as well as camping; the sun was shining brightly, the birds were singing their lovely songs, and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. As the girls walked, they were suddenly hit by musical inspiration and began to sing.

"The sun is shining bright, and there's no clouds in the sky,

A beautiful day to camp for you and me,” Dot sang,

“The birds are singing songs, we can't help but dance along

There's gonna be lots to do and lots to see,” Lotta replied,

“I'm really bored of school, wanna do something real cool?

Well, this is where we're all going to be,” said Audrey,

“We've waited nine months, that's almost a year, but now our chance is finally here

To head into the forest for two days and nights of glee…”

After about two seconds of holding the final word out, the Harvey Girls finished the song in unison as well as harmony.

“It's an absolutely perfect day to camp for you and me!"

Although nobody else had heard the Harvey Girls’ song, they were impressed with how it had turned out. Lotta was secretly hoping they would sing it again the next time they’d go camping together.


	2. Camping Together

"Guys, I think I've found the perfect spot!" Audrey said, almost as soon as their song had ended.

Dot and Lotta looked ahead and smiled. They'd come to a large clearing that had a campfire area available, and was located close to a lake that had a boardwalk leading to the center of it. And surrounding the clearing were large numbers of trees, flowers and other plants.

"Oh, it's beautiful!" Dot said with a smile.

"I don't think I've ever seen a clearing like this before," Lotta agreed.

"This campout is gonna be way awesome," Audrey mentioned. "Come on, guys, let's get everything set up!"

She, Dot and Lotta made their way into the clearing. Lotta immediately started looking around, enjoying the sights and sounds as she did so, while Audrey stood by her to do the same. Dot brought her backpack over to the most open space she could find, and then pulled out her portable tent. It was in a bag that she zipped open.

"Hey, Audrey!" Dot called. Audrey was looking around for a moment before she heard Dot's voice and walked over to her.

"Yeah?"

"Could you help me set up this tent?" Dot asked. "I'm not sure I can do it myself."

"Oh, sure." Audrey knelt down and reached into the bag, pulling out a couple of metal poles as she did so. "You think we should get Lotta's help, too? She's the strongest of us."

"That'd be nice, but let's save the harder parts for her, okay?" Dot suggested. She pulled out the instructions and began to read them. "Hmm, it says we start by attaching one straight pole to another one, then placing one end of the pole to one of the little tri-poles."

"Doesn't sound too hard." Audrey attached one pole to another, then felt around for a tri-pole. Finally she found one - it had three endings, one of which was needed to place a pole upward - that she picked up and placed on one end of the pole. "Like this?"

"Yes, and then we should keep attaching poles until they look like this." Dot showed Audrey the instructions, which displayed a tent without its tarp. It looked like a pyramid.

"How hard could it be?" Audrey wondered to herself.

So they took a few minutes to set up the tent. Audrey didn't look at the instructions like Dot did, though, so it took her a bit longer to figure out what to do than Dot. But soon, they were done placing the poles in a square shape, with four of the tri-poles connecting each pole to each corner. What would probably be harder, however, was trying to get the poles to be attached upward.

Fortunately, Lotta had finished her moment of sightseeing by the time her friends needed her help. Seeing that they were working on the tent, Lotta walked over to them.

"You need some help with that?" Lotta wanted to know.

"Oh, yes, please," Dot replied.

"It's funny you asked that," Audrey mentioned. "We were just getting to the part that you could do better than us!"

Lotta giggled a bit over her joke, and then helped them attach the poles that were meant to be placed upward. After a couple of minutes, all of the poles and tri-poles were gone, and what was left was a pyramid made out of them. Lotta took the tarp out of the tent bag, shook it a couple of times to unfold it, and placed it perfectly over the poles. Audrey and Dot moved the poles carefully into the holes of the tarp so that they could be held in place.

Finally, their hard work was done. Audrey, Dot and Lotta stood in front of the tent, all with satisfied smiles on their faces.

“That is a lovely looking tent,” Dot commented to herself. She turned to Audrey and Lotta. “Thanks for the help, guys!”

“Oh, you’re welcome,” Lotta replied.

“Don’t mention it, Dot!” said Audrey. “What say we start exploring this forest now?”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Dot replied.

With that, the Harvey Girls began to wander away from their campsite. There were dozens and dozens of tall trees growing over their heads, and on the ground, there were many pretty flowers in different colors.

“Oh, the whole forest is blooming,” Dot commented.

She looked over at a flower that was growing on a vine from one of the trees. This flower, along with many others that were on the same vine, was a light purple color and had about five petals. Dot held the vine gently so that her nose could reach the flower, and then took a gentle sniff. The aroma smelled nice, but she could feel a faint tickle in her nose soon after.

“Ugh...” Dot’s eyelids lowered as she let go of the vine, her nose twitching slightly but visibly. Feeling like she was about sneeze, Dot began to inhale, tilting her head back slightly.

“Ah, haaah… Hehh…”

But before she could make it beyond three little gasps, the tickle disappeared from her nose. She opened her eyes slightly as her breath returned to normal.

“Hmm, that’s odd…”

“What’s odd?” Audrey asked.

“I thought I was going to sneeze,” Dot started, “but I guess I don’t have to--“ But her eyes suddenly widened again, before quickly falling closed. She tilted her upper body back, gave a desperate inhale… and then exploded.

“HAAH-CHEWWW!!”

Dot shot her neck forwards as she released the sneeze. She would have covered her mouth, but it had escaped from her far too fast for that to happen, although Audrey and Lotta were lucky that neither of them got sprayed. In fact, there didn’t appear to be any spray during the sneeze itself.

As soon as she’d recovered from the sneeze, Dot stood back up with a surprised expression on her face, holding her hands over her mouth in embarrassment. Audrey and Lotta looked at her for a moment, both of them a bit surprised as well, but then chuckled over the sneeze.

“Yeah, that’s the thing with those sneezes,” said Audrey. “You think they’re gonna come, then they don’t, and then they come anyway.”

Dot smiled and removed her hands from her mouth, feeling a bit better now that she’d seen her friends’ reactions. “Yes, they can be quite unpredictable...” She sniffled as she brought up a forefinger to rub her nose. “Excuse me.”

“That’s okay, Dot. And bless you,” said Lotta.

They continued on their hike, making sure not to stray too far from their campsite. Aside from the plants, the Harvey Girls saw butterflies travelling from one flower to another, rabbits hopping into and out of burrows, squirrels crawling up trees, and even a far away moose chewing on some leaves. Dot pulled out her phone and managed to take a picture of the moose without the antlered animal running away, or even being aware of what she was doing. Lotta, meanwhile, snapped a couple pictures of the rabbits she’d seen. It made sense, what with her having them as her favorite animal and all.

After quite a few hours of hiking, sightseeing and taking pictures for memories, the sun began to sink into the horizon. The sky began to turn orange, followed not too long after by a dark blue shade. Audrey, Dot and Lotta made their way back to the campground.

“I’m going to start the fire,” Dot stated.

“You need some help?” Audrey asked.

“Thanks, but I’ll do it myself. I don’t want either of you two burning yourselves,” Dot mentioned.

“Yeah, that’s a good reason…” said Lotta.

“But if you’d like to help, I’d like you to gather some firewood,” Dot then suggested, “since I didn’t bring any with me.” Audrey and Lotta smiled at the idea.

“Sure!” Audrey said.

Dot pulled her fire-making materials out of her backpack and then walked over to the campfire area. She laid them down close to the fire pit, which hadn’t been set up yet. She unfolded the instructions and read them a couple times. They read that she was to gather a pile of wood, then strike a match and hold it under one of the pieces of wood to set it alight. If the fire needed to be stoked, she had to take a smaller piece of wood and place it carefully into the fire; and if it needed to be put out, she would either have to pour some water over it to extinguish it, or let it burn out on its own. Most importantly of all, however, Dot had to make sure she and the others weren’t too close or too far away from the fire, so they wouldn’t burn themselves or get too cold.

A few minutes later, Audrey and Lotta approached the campfire area, both of them with piles of sticks in their hands. As she thanked them, Dot made a neat little pile out of the sticks, but made sure to save a few of them for when one of the Harvey Girls wanted to stoke the fire. Finally, she took out a matchbox, pushed it open and removed a single match. She rubbed it against the box, bringing the flame into view, and then held it close to a few sticks in the pile.

By the time she was holding the match to the top of the pile, the sticks had begun to burn as well. Dot smiled and tossed the match into the fire, and she sat down on one of the three logs that was surrounding the fire. Seeing that the fire had started to burn as well, Audrey and Lotta each sat down on a log as well.

“You’re pretty good at starting fires, Dot - at least, in the safest way possible,” Audrey commented.

“Thanks. No matter what the situation, safety is a top priority,” said Dot.

“It sure is.” Audrey picked up one of the longer sticks and looked at it for a moment. “Hmm, I wanna roast some marshmallows… but I don’t think it’d be a good idea to eat them off these.”

“Yeah, didn’t someone tell us about sticks having germs or something?” Lotta added.

“True, but I’ve brought something that can fix that.” Dot reached into her backpack, pulled out a box, and opened it to reveal a few long, fireproof skewers. “We can use these clean marshmallow holders that I brought from home.” She pulled them out, one by one, before she handed one to Audrey and one to Lotta.

“Oh, that’s a great idea,” Lotta replied. “Thanks, Dot.”

She opened up her backpack and pulled out her bag of marshmallows, which she tore open as gently as he could. She placed three marshmallows onto her skewer, then passed the bag to Audrey and Dot. Audrey placed three marshmallows onto her skewer as well, while Dot placed two onto her skewer.

“What? You don’t like roasted marshmallows?” Audrey asked out of curiosity.

“Of course I do,” Dot replied. “It’s just that I don’t want to indulge in too many of these. They may taste great and all, but too much of a good thing can stop being good quite quickly.”

“True, that,” Audrey replied. “And it’s alright, suit yourself.”

The girls held their skewers - each of which had their marshmallows on the other end - over the fire, allowing the flames to gently toast them. They listened to the wood in the fire burn and crackle, as well as crickets chirping in the woods surrounding them. Both of these sounds were very calming to listen to.

“You see that star up there?” Dot asked as she pointed at one of the stars in the sky. Audrey and Lotta looked up at it. “That’s the North Star. They say if you ever get lost, you can find your way home by following it.”

“That’s cool and all, but I’d like to see someone try doing that,” said Audrey.

“And do you see that?” Dot pointed at a group of stars that appeared a few inches away from the North Star. “That’s the Big Dipper.”

Lotta giggled to herself. “It looks like a big old ladle!”

“You know, it kind of does!” Audrey agreed with a chuckle.

“That’s why it’s called that,” Dot stated. She gestured to another group of stars near the Big Dipper. “And that over there is the Little Dipper. It looks just like the Big Dipper, except the stars that make it up are a bit closer.”

“So it’s the Big Dipper’s baby?” Lotta asked.

“Or its apprentice?” Audrey made a guess of her own, as if she knew Lotta’s wouldn’t be right.

“You could say that,” said Dot. “There are quite a few constellations that can be similar in structure to one another, but none of them can be parents and children, siblings or anything like that. Although I do admire both of your imaginations.” She looked over at the marshmallows on her skewer, as well as Audrey’s and Lotta’s skewers. Every one of them was a perfect mix of white and golden brown. “The marshmallows are ready.”

“Oh, goody,” Lotta said with a smile.

“Bon appetit,” Audrey replied, also smiling.

Lotta was the first to enjoy her marshmallows. She pulled her skewer away from the fire and bit off the marshmallow at the top. She kept her smile as she chewed. It tasted delicious. As she ate, she saw that Audrey and Dot had different ways of eating their marshmallows. Audrey was eating her marshmallows as though she were eating a shish kabob, holding the skewer with both hands and bringing it to and away from her mouth a few times as she bit off and chewed one piece of marshmallow after another. Dot, on the other hand, pulled off one of the marshmallows and bit a portion off of it, and only after she’d swallowed the piece of the marshmallow did she take the rest of it into her mouth. She repeated this process for the second marshmallow on her skewer.

Of course, Lotta didn’t mind. If her friends had different ways of enjoying their snacks or meals, it was alright. And she was glad that they didn’t have a problem with the way she ate her marshmallows, either.

Besides, in spite of the unique methods they used to consume their marshmallows, it was clear that all three of the Harvey Girls enjoyed their treats. They took their time to make them last, but soon, all of the marshmallows they’d roasted had been eaten. Audrey and Lotta handed their skewers back to Dot, who pulled out a container of sanitary wipes, pulled one out and used it to wipe the skewers clean. She then put them away in the box she’d brought it out of, and put it back in her backpack along with the box of sanitary wipes.

For what felt like hours, Audrey, Dot and Lotta sat at the campfire, enjoying the heat that radiated into the air from the flames and burning wood. When they looked up at the sky again, they saw the full moon steadily climbing into view among the stars.

“It’s getting late, girls.” Dot gave a short but cute yawn into her hand. “I think it’s time we got into the tent and went to sleep.”

“Okay, but can I read you guys a scary story first?” Audrey suggested. “I brought my book of the scariest campfire stories ever just for that.”

“Scariest campfire stories ever?” Lotta’s eyes widened and pupils shrunk slightly as she heard that. She couldn’t help but shudder. She must have been afraid. “I don’t know about that…”

“I’m not too sure about the idea myself,” Dot agreed in concern. “I wouldn’t want to have any nightmares after hearing one.”

“Come on, girls,” Audrey said with a little chuckle. “Even if they are the scariest stories in the whole wide world, it’s not like any of them are real… Right?”

She received no answer from Dot and Lotta. The fire had already burned out.

“Alright, we’ll let you read us a story,” Dot finally said. “But don’t say we didn’t warn you…”

“Oh, I won’t.” Audrey reached over to her backpack and picked it up. Dot and Lotta picked up their own backpacks as well.

The three of them stood up from their logs and walked away from the campfire, which was now reduced to a pile of burnt sticks with glowing orange embers. As they headed toward the tent, Lotta made her way inside first, then let Audrey and Dot in afterward. She made sure to move out of the way so she could give them enough room.


	3. The Scary Story

The inside of the tent was pretty dark, but the light from the moon kept it from being pitch black. Audrey, Dot and Lotta had their sleeping bags laid out; Audrey’s red-hearts-on-pink-background sleeping bag, Dot’s light blue sleeping bag that was covered with darker blue dots, and Lotta’s white-bunnies-on-blue-background sleeping bag.

The Harvey Girls took off their shoes and socks before they changed from their everyday clothes to their pajamas; Audrey’s were pink and covered with yellow stars, Dot’s were light blue and covered with dots that matched her sleeping bag as well as the vest she usually wore, and Lotta wore a big, soft and light purple shirt with the face of a smiling bunny on the front, as well as light blue pajama bottoms that were covered with white clouds. What happened to the top that went with those pajama bottoms, Lotta didn’t know.

Lotta reached into her backpack and pulled out her favorite toy bunny: a blue-eyed and white-furred rabbit that always smiled, and wore a pink dress as soft as its fur. She held the stuffed animal in her arms as Audrey sat just behind the opening to the tent and zipped open her backpack. She took a few minutes to search through it, and finally smiled as she found the book and pulled it out. The title was right there on the cover: "The Scariest Campfire Stories Ever Told: Not Recommended for the Faint of Heart."

“Okay, you girls ready?” Audrey asked.

“Yes, Audrey,” Dot said with a nod. She was kneeling on her sleeping bag as opposed to laying down in it.

“Yeah, now that I’ve got my bunny with me,” Lotta replied. “At least she’ll keep me from getting too scared.”

“Good, because you’ll definitely be scared once I tell you…” Audrey opened up the book to the title of a random story. She paused to look over the name.

“Once you tell us what?” Lotta wanted to know.

“Why, the legend of…” Audrey picked up the book and showed the title to Dot and Lotta. The title went across both of the pages and displayed an illustration of a vicious-looking wolf howling.

“The Big Bad Wolf!”

Just hearing the name of the wolf, as well as seeing the illustration of it in the book, caused Dot and Lotta to scream in fear. The screams only lasted for half a second and were no louder than their normal speaking voices, but they were screams nonetheless. Lotta held onto her bunny tighter while Dot looked away for a brief moment, most likely wondering what the heck she’d just seen. Audrey chuckled to herself as she turned the book back to her.

“Wow. I haven’t even told you the story yet, and you’re already scared!” Audrey stated.

“Yeah, well…” Dot looked a bit embarrassed as she looked back at Audrey. “I suppose I didn’t expect that wolf to look so detailed.”

Audrey then looked over at Lotta, who had crawled into her sleeping bag to make herself feel safer. She was still holding her stuffed bunny.

“What’s the matter, Lotta? Are you afraid, too?” Audrey asked, jokingly. When she was about to tell her friends a story that they weren’t looking forward to hearing, she often got into a joking mood. Perhaps it was to make them feel less afraid, but she never told them the real reason.

“Afraid?” Lotta looked up at Audrey and tried to hide her fear. It was pretty obvious that it wasn’t working, however. “I’m not afraid. Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?”

Audrey gave another chuckle. “Come on, guys. We’ve all gone through some scary situations before, you know - not to mention, we’ve all heard some scary stories before.”

“Yes, but…” Dot was shivering in slight fear. “I have a feeling this one’s going to be the scariest one we’ll ever hear.”

“So do I…” Lotta whimpered.

But Audrey gave them a reassuring smile, or perhaps not so reassuring. She was more willing to read the story than Dot and Lotta were, and they could tell.

“Maybe, but if so, that’ll make it more awesome,” said Audrey. “Ready?”

No response from Dot or Lotta, although Lotta climbed back out of her sleeping bag and sat back down on it. She still had her bunny in her arms to keep herself company. Audrey smiled and turned the page in her book, and she began to read the first page.

“Once upon a time, a very long time ago,” Audrey started, “long before even your grandparents were born, there lived a deep, dark forest. This deep, dark forest was home to all sorts of strange creatures, predators and prey alike. But in this forest lived the most fearsome creature that could ever walk the Earth. This creature was called…” Audrey paused to take a deep breath, then exhaled. “The Big Bad Wolf.”

Lotta shivered from hearing the name and hid back in her sleeping bag again. She held her stuffed bunny tightly in her arms, but it wasn’t much help. She could see that Dot was looking a bit worried as well.

Audrey looked at the second page and read the text from it. “The Big Bad Wolf was as black as night, and his eyes glowed a threatening bright red color - all day and night, every day and night. His claws were sharper than every knife in existence and could hack through anything, no matter how thick. When he stood on his hind legs, he was taller than an adult human, and his favorite foods...” Audrey paused to look into the eyes of her friends, who were steadily becoming more and more frightened. “...were living creatures!”

Dot and Lotta gasped when they heard that, and Dot placed her hand over her mouth. Audrey turned the page and continued reading.

“Every night, when the sun had gone down, the Big Bad Wolf came crawling out of his dark, smelly cave, and wandered all over the forest,” read Audrey. She moved her eyes to the text on the next page, which had a terrified squirrel running away from the Big Bad Wolf. He was chasing it, his jaws wide open in sinister hunger. “The moment he saw even the smallest and least harmful animal come his way, he gave chase right then and there. The only thing on his mind involved just how delicious his prey would taste.”

“Oh, my goodness…!” Lotta whimpered in fear. Dot looked at the picture of the Big Bad Wolf chasing the squirrel and became worried herself.

“Oh, my! He does look horrifying!” Dot commented, referring to the Big Bad Wolf. “If only that poor squirrel had avoided letting itself be seen…”

Audrey turned the page. The next page involved a little squirrel - probably the same one from the last page - an equally small rabbit, and an also small duck huddled together in fear, right over the shadow of the Big Bad Wolf. Underneath them, a distressed green frog was ducking and covering its eyes with its forearms.

“Eek!” Lotta cried, the sight of the imperiled rabbit making her particularly worried. “Those poor animals are gonna get eaten! Where’s a big superhero wolf when you need one?!”

“It didn’t matter what kind of animals were involved,” Audrey went on. “Whether he came across a herbivore like a rabbit, a bird like a duck, a reptile like a frog…” She moved her eyes to the other page, the top half of which involved two claws from the Big Bad Wolf’s fingers pinching and catching a fly that was buzzing around. “...or even a bug like a fly,” Audrey finished. She looked down at the bottom half to once again reveal the Big Bad Wolf, now sitting on the ground with both paws upon his bulging belly. He’d eaten the animals, probably including the fly. “Once he’d caught them, the Big Bad Wolf would eat them right up!”

Lotta whimpered mournfully, covering her eyes with one hand while holding her stuffed bunny in her other arm. Dot looked over to her and placed her hand on her shoulder as she tried to calm her down.

“I didn’t want them to be eaten, either, Lotta…” Dot mentioned.

Audrey turned the page once more. The Big Bad Wolf had a thought bubble over his head, and in this thought bubble were a few animals. He had an expression of longing hunger on his face over the idea.

“But the Big Bad Wolf’s stomach never stayed full,” Audrey read. “Even after eating every animal he found or could find, he hadn’t been satisfied. In fact, he decided that what he wanted was…” Audrey looked over the next page, which had the Big Bad Wolf howling threateningly at four screaming humans: a man, a woman, and two children, a boy and a girl. She uttered the final sentence in a dramatic voice. “...to eat every last man, woman and child who ever lived!”

“EEEEEEEK!” Dot and Lotta screamed in horror and embraced from hearing that part of the story, as well as looking at the picture of the page Audrey had read it from. Audrey tried not to laugh from their reaction, but a couple of chuckles slipped out. She turned the page once more. The Big Bad Wolf was walking out of the forest, every step he took leaving behind one massive clawed footprint after another.

“And so the Big Bad Wolf wandered out of the deep, dark forest and began to walk to search the world beyond for the taste of human beings.” Audrey looked over to the final page, which had an image that scared her far more than the story itself had: the Big Bad Wolf looking deviously toward her. Caught off guard, she couldn’t help but flinch as she gave a light scream. “Oh, jeez!”

She dropped the book and held her hands in front of her, closing her eyes as she tried to defend herself. She couldn’t help herself; the Big Bad Wolf looked like he had an evil trick up his sleeve. Dot and Lotta couldn’t help but crack a smile when they saw her reaction. They must have thought Audrey had gotten what she deserved after scaring them with the story.

After a few seconds, Audrey opened one of her eyes, then the other. Nothing had happened to her, she was fine. But the open book now lay in front of her, the Big Bad Wolf still looking right at the reader. Audrey put down her hands and looked back down at the book as she read the final piece of text. It was a warning.

“And now it is your turn,” read Audrey. “The Big Bad Wolf continues to wander the world to this very day. If you are reading this story anywhere in or close to a forest, you are at a dangerously high risk of being the next person he decides to snack on. If you find him and really, REALLY don’t want to be eaten, your only chance is to hide somewhere safe. And above all, stay absolutely quiet, because if he hears one sound out of you or looks at you once, the Big Bad Wolf will be coming after you!”

Audrey turned the page once more, but it was for the next story. The story she had just read had been finished. She moved her hand underneath the cover so she could close the book.

“Whoa… I didn’t think it was gonna end with that warning,” Audrey stated. “And especially not with that picture!”

“Now do you see why we didn’t want to hear that story?” Dot asked with a smirk.

“Because of the last picture?”

“Of course not, silly,” Lotta replied. “Not that that didn’t scare us, too, but the reason we didn’t want to hear it was because of how scary the wolf is.”

“You know…” Audrey opened the book once more and was quickly greeted by the title of the story she’d just read. She took a minute to look at the Big Bad Wolf, looking at every detail of his body. Finally she winced, her eyes wide and pupils shrunken in dawning comprehension. “I… I don’t think you’ve ever been righter!”

“See, Audrey? We tried to warn you,” said Dot.

Audrey closed the book once more, closed her eyes, then took a deep breath and exhaled. Just like that, the terrifying image of the Big Bad Wolf temporarily faded away. She opened her eyes once again.

“That story may have been pretty darn creepy, but the only thing worse,” Audrey mentioned, “would be if the Big Bad Wolf really was out to get us.”

Lotta couldn’t help but shiver even more from the idea. It was terrifying to mention, let alone think about... She held her bunny toy tightly in her arms, thankfully not damaging it from her strength. “Y-y-you think he is…?”

“I wouldn’t say so,” Dot said. “The chances of a wolf eating people alive is incredibly low. Then again, most people except children are larger than wolves…”

“Um, Dot?” Lotta asked. Dot turned her head toward her so she could hear what she wanted to say. “We’re children… you know that, right?”

Dot’s eyes widened and pupils shrunk in realization and slight fear. “Oh, we are…” But when she realized what this meant, she almost immediately calmed down again.

“That being said, the chances are still quite small. And you’re larger than both of us, so the chances of you being eaten are most likely even smaller. Aren’t they?”

“Are they?” Lotta still looked a bit worried about the idea. Even though she was a bigger size than either of her best friends, that probably didn’t have to do with her safety against the predator they were discussing.

“Let’s hope so. Besides, as long as we follow the warning on the last page, and stay quietly in this tent until morning, we won’t have to worry about the Big Bad Wolf.”

“Yeah, we’ll be fine.” Audrey then yawned into her hand for a few seconds, and then put it down as she lowered her eyelids. “Alright, that’s enough scary for one night.”

She slipped the book back into her backpack, then zipped it closed and moved it out of the way. She then stood up and headed into her sleeping bag, while Dot stepped into her own sleeping bag as well. Lotta held her stuffed bunny in her arms as she lay down in her sleeping bag as well.

“Even though that story was really scary,” Dot said, “I’d say our camping trip is off to a great start.”

“Oh, you bet,” said Audrey. “If this is how the first day started, imagine what we’ll do tomorrow…”

“I just hope it’ll be way less scary than that story.” Lotta rubbed her eye gently with one of her fists, then closed both of her eyes as she sighed. “Goodnight, guys.”

“Goodnight, Lotta,” Dot replied. She closed her eyes, too, placing her right hand over her left. “And goodnight, Audrey.”

“Night, guys.” Audrey turned over, using her arm as an improvised pillow, as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep as well.

Unbeknownst to the dozing Harvey Girls, the warning on the final page of their Big Bad Wolf story was more than just a warning. It was prophetic. They didn’t know it yet, but the trio of friends were in for one dangerous adventure.


	4. The Wolf is Real!

As the moon glowed and the stars shone in the sky, the leaves on every tree moved ever so slightly in the gentle winds. The only sound that could be heard for miles - with the exception of those gentle winds - was the crickets chirping. But some of these crickets saw something that caused them to freeze and stop chirping, before they finally hopped away. A big, dark, clawed paw stomped the ground, just barely missing some of the crickets that were trying to evade it. The paw stayed where it was, followed by another equally large and dark paw. Its fur was scruffy and as black as the night.

The horrifying creature to which these paws belonged to stood where he was, taking a deep breath and forcefully sighing through his equally black but shiny and reflective nose like a bull. The sclera in his eyes were glowing as red as blood - so red, in fact, that it was no wonder he didn’t need a flashlight to guide himself through the darkness. His bushy tail lay downward, barely touching the ground a few inches away from his back paws, but rarely moved, still less wagged. He scratched the ground aggressively with the claws of his front paw, ready to take on even the strongest being that could approach him at this moment.

That being wouldn’t dare, not when it knew he was the Wolf. The Big Bad Wolf, to be precise.

The Wolf tilted and turned his head this way and that, sniffing the air ever so slightly. He could have sworn he smelled something… something that he was sure that he could find not too far from here. He plodded his way through the woods, placing one tough paw in front of the other with each step. At one point, he placed the end of his snout against the ground and sniffed again, looking for something. But there was nothing down there that he was looking for, so he moved his head back up again and kept on moving.

His stomach was growling, almost loud enough to make his paws tremble. He paused to place his front paw on his belly and rub it reassuringly. He would find something to eat soon, he was sure of it. The sooner he found a bite to snack on, the better. He pulled his paw off his stomach and continued to roam the forest. He could sense at least three living creatures out here, and all he had to do was find them.

Finally, he saw it. His eyes lit up in joy, surprise and elation at his fortune. He had encountered a clearing, and the campfire area had a noticeable pile of gray ash where a fire had once burned. But what had brought his hopes straight up was something else that was at the campsite: a tent. Where there was a tent, there had to be people camping - and where there were people camping, there had to be a delicious and satisfying meal waiting to be eaten. The Wolf licked his lips slowly as he gave a sinister smile.

Audrey, Dot and Lotta were still sound asleep in their sleeping bags, not moving much. Lotta turned her body from side to side a couple of times before she’d found a comfortable spot, fortunately not bothering Audrey or Dot with her movements. However, she then heard a deep growling noise, and her eyes shot open faster than one could say her name. She sat up from her sleeping bag, turning her head left and right for where the noise had come from. It seemed to have been uttered right outside the tent…

“Um… guys?” Lotta asked. Neither of her friends responded or heard her. They were still asleep. Dot still had her right hand over her left, while Audrey was still sleeping with her head on her arm. Lotta tried again. “Guys?”

Dot winced a bit, then opened one of her eyes slowly. She gave a slightly annoyed groan. She really didn’t like being woken up in the middle of the night - but then again, many people didn’t.

“Ugh… what’s wrong, Lotta?” Dot wanted to know.

“I heard something scary just now,” said Lotta. “I’m scared. It could be anything…”

“Anything?” Dot raised an eyebrow. “Like what?”

“It could be a bear, or a wolf… or a wolverine…” Lotta whimpered with fear.

“You were probably just hearing things, Lotta,” said Dot. “I don’t think there’s anything out there…”

Almost as soon as she finished her sentence, however, a loud howl filled the air, causing Lotta to cover her ears with both of her hands and Dot to wince in disbelief. The howl also awoke Audrey, causing her to sit up in her sleeping bag with her eyes wide open. The first thing out of her mouth was most likely taken out of the dream she’d had right before this.

“I’m sorry, Teach! I’ll retake the test, please don’t make me stay!”

Dot and Lotta looked at her in confusion, and Audrey looked at them as well, still having wide eyes. Realizing that her dialogue didn’t make any sense, she calmed down and explained herself.

“Oh, sorry. I guess I was having a bad dream…”

“You were? Well, I don’t want to make it worse or anything, but…” Lotta took a deep breath before she finished her sentence. “I think you might still be in a bad dream, Audrey.”

“And why do you think that?” Audrey wanted to know.

“Did you hear the howl?” Dot asked.

Audrey nodded. Besides, she probably wouldn’t have woken up if she hadn’t. “That was one super scary howl…”

“Oh, absolutely,” Dot agreed. “It could have been from a roaming coyote. I’d say it would have been a fox, but what fox could make a sound like that?”

Audrey looked over at the wall of the tent, as if trying to find where it had come from. “Come to think of it, it sounded just like it came from a wolf. A big, bad wolf, maybe…”

Lotta whimpered and shivered in fear. “Oh, no… you mean…?”

“If the wolf from our scary story could howl, I bet it could do it just like that. And maybe he’s trying to eat something - or someone - right now.”

Lotta held tightly onto her bunny. The look on her face told her friends she was on the brink of a nervous breakdown. “What could be scarier than a wolf that’ll eat anything and anyone?!”

Just then, she heard a couple of inhales, causing her to snap out of her fear. She looked back at Audrey, only to see that she was tilting her head back. Her eyelids were lowering halfway and she had brought her arms up to either sides of her ribcage. Was she going to sneeze?

“Ah… Haaah…”

“Eek!” Lotta gave a barely audible, cute scream of fear and dived into her sleeping bag. She held her bunny tightly in her arms and shut her eyes, fearing the absolute biggest and loudest sneeze her friend could muster…

“HAAAAH--!”

But no sneeze followed, nor any further inhales. Lotta opened one of her eyes, then the other, as she slowly peeked from the hole of her sleeping bag. She looked at Audrey. She hadn’t sneezed; Dot was holding her forefinger under Audrey’s nose. She, too, must have thought she was going to sneeze, and had done that to prevent her from doing so, lest they give their location away to the mysterious creature outdoors.

Her eyes now halfway open, Audrey looked at Dot, giving her the expression that she wasn’t amused at what Dot had done. “I was just kidding, Dot.”

“Audrey…” Dot removed her forefinger from Audrey’s nose. “This isn’t the time to kid around. There’s something unfriendly wandering out there! We can’t let it know about where we--”

Just before she could finish her sentence, however, a deep-pitched noise that sounded quite similar to a loud sneeze erupted through the tent. Audrey and Dot embraced one another in fear almost instantly as the walls of their tent shook. Close to them, Lotta cringed and looked around hastily, her eyes wide with disbelief as well.

“Oh, my goodness!” Dot cried out, only audibly enough for Audrey and Lotta to hear.

When the noise died down, Audrey and Dot cautiously removed their arms from one another. They waited for any more sound, but didn’t hear anything.

“Was… was that a sneeze?” Audrey wanted to know.

“I guess so,” Dot said. “I think this… ahem, guest of ours can sense what we’re doing…”

“You think so?” Lotta wanted to know. “But on the plus side, Audrey didn’t sneeze.”

“Yeah, at least there’s that,” Audrey said with a smile.

Just then, however, her eyes shot wide open and her pupils shrunk. Before Dot or Lotta could react, she tilted her upper body backward for a moment, and then released a sneeze into her right arm. It was a good thing she had just enough time to cover the explosion.

“AH-TCHOOO!!!”

It was also a good thing that sneeze was only about as audible as her normal speaking voice. If it had been any louder, it would definitely have given them away… or so it seemed. As Dot and Lotta looked at her with their eyes wide open, Audrey sat where she was, rubbing her nose with her right forefinger. She looked dismayed that she’d sneezed anyway, but the idea that the predator might have heard that sneeze made her more dismayed.

“Okay, this CANNOT be good news,” Audrey commented.

“Indeed. And gesundheit,” Dot replied.

The Wolf groaned to himself as he rubbed his nose with his fist, along with an audible sniffle. He couldn’t help but wonder what had made him sneeze, but he wasn’t planning on letting that thought stick. He had heard another sneeze in this area just after he’d released his - and unlike his own, it had come from the tent he’d just seen. He slowly made his way toward the tent, hunger gleaming in his eyes.

Audrey, Dot and Lotta sat where they were, all of them shivering slightly with terrified expressions on their faces. If one more loud sound came out of one of them, the beast waiting outside would definitely come after them. And they could see through the thin walls of the tent that something was, indeed, coming after them.

“W-what are we gonna do?”

“If we stay in here and don’t make any more noise, maybe it’ll go away…?” Lotta asked, her tone of voice a mixture of hope and concern.

“If we want that to work, whatever you do,” Dot warned, “don’t… make… a sound.”

Audrey and Lotta both nodded in understanding, holding their breaths as they stayed as quiet as they could. They couldn’t even bring themselves to say one more sentence - or one more word, for that matter.

They and Dot waited, nervously and fearfully, for something to happen. Whether it would happen to them or whatever it was that was outside, it didn’t matter, it had to be something. Every second that crawled by felt longer and more suspenseful than they had any right to be. What was going to happen to the Harvey Girls?

After almost a minute had gone by, however, the footsteps stopped. The figure outside of the tent stopped as well, then seemed to move away from them. The Harvey Girls looked up at it in curiosity.

“What’s this?” Dot whispered. “I could have sworn that monster was going to attack us.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Audrey stated, also in a whisper. “Why would it just find us and decide to leave us alone?”

“You don’t suppose it’s a trap, do you?” asked Lotta, also whispering.

Audrey and Dot looked at her, their eyes widened in surprise.

“For once, you’ve actually come up with a good idea,” said Audrey. She made sure to keep her voice as low as it could be.

“I’m afraid to say this,” Dot went on, “but one of us may have to take a look out there and see if the monster’s still waiting.”

Now it was her turn to be stared at by her friends.

“One of us? What if something happens?” Lotta asked.

“Yeah, can’t we all look out there?” Audrey suggested. “I’d rather we do it together than have any two of us lose one of our friends.”

Dot thought about how they were going to deal with the situation, weighing the options as she did so. It would be incredibly risky, yes, and the thought of losing even one of her friends threatened to break her heart. But if they didn’t go outside for one minute to watch for the creature, they’d never figure out what it was. After almost a minute, Dot agreed.

“We’ll all take one look outside together. You, you and me.”

Audrey and Lotta nodded their heads in understanding, and then they all stepped out of their sleeping bags. They put on their socks and shoes to prevent themselves from stepping onto anything sharp or disgusting, and as slowly as she could, Audrey zipped the opening of the tent open.

She poked her head out from the inside, then stepped out into the wilderness as slowly as she could. Dot followed suit, and then Lotta. The three girls looked around from where they stood, looking for the beast that they thought was waiting for them.

“See anything?” Dot asked.

“Nope. Just trees, grass, plants… All sorts of nature stuff except for our campsite,” Audrey commented.

Lotta briefly looked up at the sky, but there was nothing above her head or her friends’ heads. Just miles of dark blue sky with millions of shining stars. She looked up at the branches of the trees that surrounded the tent, but there seemed to be only leaves in those branches.

“I don’t see anything, either,” said Lotta.

“Neither do I,” Dot replied. “I wonder if we were hearing things after all.”

“Oh, you’re not…” a deep and loud voice bellowed, causing Audrey, Dot and Lotta to wince in surprise. “...you delicious-looking little girls.”

The voice sounded like it was right behind the Harvey Girls. Audrey and Lotta stood speechless; they probably couldn’t think of anything to say. Dot, on the other hand, had only one thing to ask her friends.

“Audrey, Lotta, do we dare guess who just said that?”

Slowly, ever so slowly, they turned their heads to look behind them. Immediately, their eyes shot wide open and their pupils shrunk in fear, shock, disbelief and dawning comprehension.

It was him. He had heard their every word, and had stepped right up to them when the time was right.

Audrey, Dot and Lotta had never screamed so loud in their lives, except for that moment. That moment when they realized exactly what they were in for.


	5. Run For Your Lives!

All three of the Harvey Girls turned and ran away from the Big Bad Wolf, as fast as their legs could take them. It was the only thing they could do at that moment; otherwise, he would have caught them and tried to eat them up for sure. When the Wolf saw his prey making a run for it, he gave chase, running on all four of his clawed legs.

Audrey, Dot and Lotta ran all around the clearing, screaming the entire time.

"AAAAHHHHHH!!!" Audrey screamed.

"HELP US!! HELP!!!" Dot screamed.

"HEEEEEEELP!!!" Lotta screamed, sounding genuinely terrified.

But no matter where they went, they all knew that the Wolf was still on their tail. They all split up and darted away to find different places to hide. Just as the Wolf caught up to the Harvey Girls, he saw them parting ways to hide somewhere else. But he wasn't going to give up there. Even if he didn't see where they were hiding, he was going to look for them, one by one.

So the Big Bad Wolf decided to go after Lotta. As he made his way around her footprints that she'd left in the ground, he placed his nose to the ground and began to sniff her out. He couldn't smell anything that he was looking for, or anything that he thought would help him, but he was going to try to find his prey regardless.

Once Lotta thought she had gotten far enough away from the Wolf, she turned her head this way and that. She needed to find a spot to hide, but all she saw were dozens of tall trees. If she hid behind or next to one of those, he would probably find her far too quickly. But when she saw that the tree she was in front of had quite a few branches that she could climb, she decided she didn't have a choice. She gathered all of her strength to climb the tree, and then stopped when she thought she'd reached a decent spot.

But to her internal dismay, she could see the Big Bad Wolf approaching the tree she had been hiding in.

The Wolf stopped in his tracks and looked around from where he stood. One of his victims had to be around here somewhere, he just knew. He just had to find them.

Lotta stayed where she was, trying not to move a muscle or make a sound. But while she was trying to keep herself hidden, one of the pine bristles from one of the branches tickled underneath her nose, causing it to twitch. She lowered her eyelids a bit, but then rubbed her forefinger against her nose to get rid of the tickle. Thankfully, her breath didn't begin to hitch; her rubbing prevented a sneeze from building. And just as the Wolf turned to look up at the tree she was hiding in, she managed to put her hand down just in time and act like nothing was wrong.

But the Wolf saw through her ruse the moment he lay his eyes upon her. He stood up on his hind legs and placed his front paws on the tree, growling threateningly at her. Lotta winced in fear, but before she could do anything else, her eyelids suddenly lowered. She inhaled once, then released a quiet and spray-free sneeze into the Wolf's face.

"Hah... Ah-chyew!"

The Wolf winced and pulled his paws off, then rubbed them against his face to clean it off - despite that it had been a clean sneeze. Lotta sulked for a moment, then gave her nose a couple of good rubs with her forefinger. But when she saw that the Wolf was distracted, she leapt out of her tree and ran to find another hiding spot.

The Wolf saw Lotta getting away, but simply inhaled through his nose and exhaled. He may have lost one of his victims, but at least he had two more to follow. So he turned around, placed his nose to the ground again and began to sniff out his next victim.

Meanwhile, Dot was also desperately looking for a place to hide. But like Lotta, she found nothing but trees, and she knew that if she tried to hide behind one of them, the Big Bad Wolf would certainly find her fast. But by the time she thought she'd found a good spot, she was too late - the Wolf had already spotted her.

Step by step, the Wolf stomped toward Dot, who nervously stood with her back against the tree she was behind. Her heart was panting faster than she could count, and she could see the hunger in the Wolf's eyes.

But then Dot realized something. What was she doing, acting like she was completely helpless? For crying out loud, she was the smartest and most sensible one of the Harvey Girls. Dot snapped out of her fear and put on her serious face as she stood back up. She raised her forefinger for the Wolf to see and shook it at him.

"No, bad Wolf! Bad Wolf!" she scolded him, but the Wolf simply raised an eyebrow in confusion. "How dare you try to make a meal out of three little girls? You ought to be ashamed of yourself!"

But the Wolf simply put on a serious face of his own, then raised one of his clawed fingers up. With his forefinger, he moved his claw up and down on the tip of Dot's forefinger in a tickling motion - except it didn't tickle. It hurt, even though it didn't puncture her finger. Dot cringed in pain, then pulled her finger away and covered it with her other hand.

"You're not ashamed of yourself, are you...?" Dot asked in a bit of a whimper. She knew that the Wolf wasn't falling for her plan.

The Wolf shook his head to confirm that he wasn't, but Dot turned and ran away from him as soon as she could. Immediately afterward, the Wolf started chasing her again.

Dot was running as fast as her legs could carry her, screaming for help as she did so. And since she was more concerned about getting away from the Big Bad Wolf than looking where she was going, she suddenly ran into Audrey, face first. The two of them fell backwards, rubbing their heads; Audrey used her left hand, while Dot used her right.

"Ugh... sorry, Audrey," Dot apologized for bumping into Audrey.

"Me too!" Audrey replied, sounding just as worried as Dot had been moments ago.

Just then Lotta ran over to them, only stopping when she had gotten close enough to them. She stood there with her hands on her knees, panting repeatedly as she tried to catch her breath. Then she tried to warn Audrey and Dot of what was going to happen, but couldn't get a word out before the Wolf had finally caught up to them.

All three of the Harvey Girls reacted in horror: their eyes widened and pupils shrunk, and they could feel icy chills racing down their spines. Audrey and Dot each put their arms around Lotta's body, thinking she could protect them, while Lotta placed her hands on their shoulders as well. Step by step, the Wolf stomped toward them, putting one paw over the other as he watched the poor girls shiver with fear.

"What are we gonna do?" Audrey wanted to know, then repeated that in a distressed voice. "What the heck are we gonna do?!"

"I hate to say this, but your guess is as good as mine..." Lotta whimpered.

Dot looked around hastily, turning her head this way and that. There had to be something, anything, that would help her and her friends ward off the Wolf for at least a few minutes. But there seemed to be nothing. She then reached into the pockets of her pajamas, hoping she had brought something that could distract the Wolf. She didn't feel anything, either.

But when she looked back up, she saw Audrey grabbing a handful of dirt and dust from the ground, and then flinging it straight at the Wolf's face.

"Audrey!" Dot cried, a look of confusion on her face. "What'd you do that for?"

"Just watch, and you'll see," Audrey replied.

Dot and Lotta watched as the Big Bad Wolf's eyes widened and pupils shrunk. His black nose froze for a moment, but then began to twitch as his nostrils flared up. The dust was tickling his nose and making him need to sneeze, and the urge to do so must have been too strong for him to resist. So the Wolf shut his eyes and tilted his head back as he inhaled dramatically.

"Aaaaaaaaaaah... HaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH...!!"

"Eeek!" Dot and Lotta screamed lightly as they winced in fear. They knew what was going to happen; the Wolf was going to sneeze. But now that they were seeing their chance, they turned and ran away, with Lotta grabbing Audrey's hand so that she could run away with them.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH--" The Big Bad Wolf tilted his upper body as far back as he could, his nostrils growing to more than twice their normal size. That was when he finally exploded, with the most massive, earsplitting and horrifying sneeze that a fearsome creature like himself could release!

"CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Trees were sent leaning to one side as some of their leaves and pine needles came flying off, and the resounding sound of the sneeze echoed all throughout the forest. All three of the Harvey Girls heard it, even though they were getting away from the Wolf at the time, and they all cringed in disbelief. That had to have been one of the biggest and loudest sneezes they had ever heard, even compared to their own sneezes. If anything, they were glad that none of them were the one who had released the sneeze.

The Big Bad Wolf recovered from his sneeze, but now his eyes were rolling involuntarily. He blinked to regain himself, and then sniffled loudly as he rubbed his nose roughly with his forefinger. That had been one of the harshest sneezes he'd ever let out, or would ever let out. At least the dust wasn't bothering his nose anymore.

But when the Wolf finished rubbing his nose, an expression of dismay appeared on his face. Audrey, Dot and Lotta had escaped from him while he was busy getting ready to sneeze, as well as releasing his sneeze. The Wolf inhaled lightly through his nose, thankfully not inhaling anything that would make him sneeze again, and then gave an exasperated sigh.

Meanwhile, the Harvey Girls stood where they were, all three of them panting and gasping for air as they tried to catch their breath. They looked behind them, seeing that the Wolf wasn't following them.

"Oh, man..." Audrey wiped her forehead with her hand. "That was crazy scary!"

"I know!" Lotta replied in worry. She looked a bit traumatized. "My life was flashing before my eyes!"

"So was mine," said Dot. She then turned her head to speak to Audrey. "But what's worse is that the most logical reason the Wolf nearly jeopardized our lives - besides being hungry, of course - was because of the scary story you read to us!"

Audrey let this sink in, and soon her eyes widened and pupils shrunk in dawning comprehension. She had realized the point Dot was making, and now she felt awful.

"Oh, my gosh..." She began to tear up in complete, utter guilt. "What have I done?!"

She put both of her hands over her face as she began to sob, but almost as soon as she started, Lotta quickly felt bad for her friend and placed her hand on her shoulder. She didn't want to see her cry. It was the last thing she wanted, with being eaten by the Big Bad Wolf being a close second.

"Audrey, it's okay," Lotta tried to reassure her. "Maybe it is your fault, but what matters is that we're okay."

Audrey didn't respond; she just continued to sob, whimpering and sniffling here and there. Now that she saw that her friend was genuinely unhappy, Dot calmed down as well.

"Audrey, I must apologize," Dot apologized. Audrey pulled her hand away from her face to look at her, with tear-filled eyes and a stuffy nose. "I didn't mean to leave you like this; I just didn't think there was a way our encounter with the Big Bad Wolf could have been a coincidence."

"She does have a point," said Lotta. "It's like he knew you were reading the story and decided to look for us just because of that."

Audrey tried to speak, but her voice was trembling and slightly congested. She must have been on the verge of another sob attack. "I... I guess... he did... didn't he..." Another loud snuffle.

Lotta reached down to pick her up for a big hug, which Audrey quickly returned. Lotta kept her in her arms as she and Dot made their way back to the clearing. It was probably past midnight and they needed to go back to sleep. Along the way, Audrey took a few deep breaths through her mouth as she tried to calm down.

Just as they got close to their tent, however, a gentle night breeze sent some pollen flying into Audrey's nose. With barely any time to react, save for a wide-eyed expression that screamed, "Oh, no..." she gave an explosive sneeze.

"HIIITSHUUUUUU!!!"

A particularly large amount of clear mucus escaped from Audrey's nose as she sneezed. Thankfully, it was nowhere nearly as loud as the Wolf's sneeze from minutes ago, nor could he hear it from here - but it did catch Dot and Lotta off-guard. Audrey opened her eyes halfway, looking a bit dazed as she rubbed her nose with her forefinger. There were a couple small drops of mucus leaking out of both her nostrils.

"Bless you, Audrey!" Lotta said, doing her best to keep her voice down.

"Gesundheit," Dot replied in agreement. She reached over to her backpack, pulled out a tissue and placed it in Audrey's hand.

Audrey blew her nose, pressing the tissue against both sides of her nose as she did so, but within a few seconds her nasal passages had been cleared. She then wiped her nose with the tissue, holding it in one hand as she did so.

"Th-thank you..." she managed to say.

Her voice sounded somewhat different; it sounded raspy and kind of deep, like she were coming down with something. But Dot and Lotta knew she wasn't getting sick. With a few hours of rest, her nose and throat would feel much better, and by morning she would feel like she never cried in the first place.

The Harvey Girls went back into their tent, where Dot crawled back into her sleeping bag and closed her eyes. Lotta, on the other hand, decided to help Audrey fall asleep. She kept her smaller friend in her arms as she rocked her back and forth, as gently as she could. She even sang to her, as softly as she could while still being audible.

"Rock-a-bye baby on the tree top, when the wind blows, the cradle will rock..." She hummed the rest of it, since she didn't want Audrey to hear how the song ended. Not when it ended with the cradle and the baby falling from the tree.

Her attempt worked, and soon Audrey's eyelids had fallen. Lotta smiled and placed her in her sleeping bag, making sure to tuck her in. She then yawned a bit and covered her mouth with her hand. Her own lullaby must be making her want to go to sleep, too. So that was what she did: she crawled into her own sleeping bag, looked up at the ceiling of the tent for a moment, and then closed her eyes as well.

From this point onward, the tent was quiet, save for the soft snores of the Harvey Girls. The only things they could hear besides that were the sounds of the crickets chirping outside. That being said, they all knew that their problem with the Big Bad Wolf was only getting started. And to save themselves from becoming his next meal, they had to come up with a plan tomorrow morning, as soon as they could...


End file.
